Highlights from 2012

Educational Innovations

Strategic Studies Certificate for the U.S. Army The U.S. Army, which has been sending and sponsoring mid-level officers to pursue MA degrees and War College fellows to conduct relevant research at IWP for several years, decided that a tailored program for Army strategists which provides and ensures relevant, focused training and study, based on basic strategic arts doctrine, would also be helpful in accommodating the growing numbers of strategists at home and overseas. As a result, and in conjunction with Army regulations, requirements, focus, framework and prescribed outcomes, IWP developed a custom-made Graduate Certificate in Strategic Studies for these officers in partial fulfillment of this requirement. The remaining courses not offered at IWP are offered at nearby military installations on a part-time basis while the chosen officers attend school full-time. IWP is the only civilian academic institution in the country which has been charged with the sensitive task of offering an essential element of military education to and for the Army.

IWP Program at Oxford This spring, a group of IWP students were selected to participate in an intensive summer program of tutorials in international relations, history, and philosophy at the University of Oxford in England.

Executive Leadership Development Seminar This past summer, at the encouragement of senior Defense Department officials, IWP announced the launch of PASS:PORT (Professional Advancement for Security Strategists: Program on Reducing Threats), a seminar series to train key senior civilian and military defense officials in seeking 21st century solutions to the security challenges facing our government. During this critical time of budget cuts, force reductions, and regional realignments, our Government will demand expanded capability, creativity, and agility in its workforce and is in greater need than ever of low-cost, high-impact ways of meeting major challenges. IWP's philosophy of statecraft provides exactly such solutions. In its first year, IWP enrolled 33 officers and civilian personnel in the program, many of whom serve in sensitive fields of operational strategy.

Language Courses In the past, we directed our students to study foreign languages at other nearby institutions. To give our students an edge in the job market, we started offering language classes in-house in Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian. These classes differ from those offered at other institutions because they are designed specifically for those pursuing studies in international relations, as they emphasize political, economic, diplomatic, and military vocabulary.

Faculty This year, we were sad to announce the retirements of two of our most venerable and valuable faculty members:

Prof. Ken deGraffenreid was one of the founding incorporators, faculty members, and trustees of IWP. He spearheaded the development of the first serious civilian intelligence curriculum in America and then was the architect of our MA in Intelligence Studies. His work in several senior official capacities as well as his pioneering academic work in intelligence are major contributions to the welfare of our country.

Prof. Charles Smith served for the last three years as our Academic Dean after teaching here on an adjunct basis for many years. He is one of the foremost authorities on American founding principles and their basis in Western political philosophy. He inspired among his students a well-informed and morally ordered patriotism that lies at the heart of any serious national security posture.

As these great professors and mentors have moved on, we have been bringing on a new generation of scholars who will maintain our high standards and engage the students with their extensive real-world experience:

We hired full-time Professor Joseph R. Wood, a retired Air Force colonel who has also served as a senior executive at NASA as well as Deputy National Security Advisor to Vice President Richard Cheney, with responsibility for all policy involving Europe, Eurasia, Africa, and defense issues. Most recently, he worked for a major defense contracting company, BAE Systems.

Dr. Sebastian Gorka of the National Defense University, has joined us to teach "Al-Qaeda's Enemy Threat Doctrine." Dr. Gorka regularly lectures on irregular warfare for U.S. Joint Special Operations University and other U.S. government agencies.

Dr. Tania Mastrapa is now serving as a research professor in Cuban and Latin American Studies. She is one of the foremost experts in post-communist property restitution and transitional justice.

Dr. William Miller, Professor of Politics at Marymount University, joined IWP to teach one of our core curriculum classes: "The Western Moral Tradition and World Politics" this fall.

Dr. Richard W. Rahn, one of the pioneers in supply-side economics, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, and the Chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth, is teaching "Economics for Foreign Policy Makers" this fall.

Outreach to the Policy Community

IWP has intensified its efforts to reach influential audiences through substantive policy discussions, lectures, and publications. These events and publications are important for increasing awareness about the Institute's work, exposing our students to high level officials and experts, and for enhancing the Institute's reputation for creative and sound thinking. Here is a representative selection:

IWP hosted its own alumnus MAJ John M. Rose, USA, to discuss how his studies at IWP influenced his service as a tactical commander and an advisor to the Afghan National Police in northwestern Afghanistan.

Assistant Director of National Intelligence, LTG Michael T. Flynn, USA, led a discussion on intelligence careers in the U.S. government exclusively for IWP students.

Brigadier General Mark Martins, the Chief Prosecutor for Military Commissions at the Defense Department, spoke about prosecuting terrorists in military tribunals.

At our annual graduation ceremony, famed Chinese dissident Harry Wu delivered powerful testimony about the crimes of the Chinese regime, the realities of the Laogai (the Chinese system of slave labor camps), and his new life in America.

Randall Fort, Director of Corporate Programs Security at Raytheon, and former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, spoke about cybersecurity challenges.

Dr. Thomas J. Carty, delivered a talk about his biography of Amb. Faith Whittlesey, IWP's longtime Board Chairman and former Ambassador to Switzerland.

Michelle Van Cleave, former National Counterintelligence Executive, delivered a lecture on "Foreign Spies and the U.S. Response" in an event organized by the Student Government Association in honor of the late Prof. Brian Kelley.

IWP's Center for Culture and Security sponsored a talk by Dr. Samuel Liles, professor of computer forensics at Purdue University, on "Cyber as a Form of National Power."

Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz, IWP's Kościuszko Professor of Polish Studies, published two books: Intermarium: The Land between the Black and Baltic Seas (Transaction Publishers, October 2012) and Between the Vistula and the Potomac [Między Wisłą a Potomakiem] (Gdańsk: Patria Media, 2012).

Prof. Henry Sokolski edited two books this year: The Next Arms Race (The Strategic Studies Institute Publications Office, United States Army War College, July 2012) and Pure Risk: Federal Clean Energy Loan Guarantees (Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, March 2012).

An article by IWP Professor Christopher C. Harmon entitled "U.S. Counterterrorism Policy and Strategy: The Early Obama Administration" appears in the new edition of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment: Readings and Interpretations.

The Westminster Institute's new book, Fighting the Ideological War: Winning Strategies from Communism to Islamism, published this spring by the Westminster Institute, includes a chapter by Prof. Sebastian Gorka on "The Enemy Threat Doctrine of Al Qaeda: Taking the War to the Heart of our Foe" as well as a contribution by Dr. John Lenczowski: "Political-Ideological Warfare in Integrated Strategy, and its Basis in an Assessment of Soviet Reality" which explains how we in the Reagan Administration used political warfare to help bring down the Soviet empire.

New Student JournalIWP published the inaugural issue of IWP's first student-run journal Active Measures this year. "Active measures" is a jargon term used by the former Soviet KGB and the current Russian intelligence services that refers to disinformation, forgeries, and covert political influence operations. The reason our students chose this title is that it represents instruments of statecraft which America faces in dealing with a dangerous world, and yet which U.S. agencies have systematically neglected either out of ignorance or willful blindness.

Government TestimonyIWP's faculty of scholar practioners are often called upon by our government to share their expertise. Here are some examples of the past year:

February 2nd, 2012: Professor Norman A. Bailey testified on Iran-Latin America Relations before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He described the threats caused by Venezuelan aid to terrorists, and stressed the importance of a strong U.S. response.

March 26th, 2012: Prof. Henry Sokolski testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on developments in China's cyber and nuclear capabilities."

June 20th, 2012: Prof. John Lenczowski testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement on legislation calling for reciprocity in US-Chinese media visas. (Whereas the U.S. gave China 868 visas for its official media representatives, China gave us two.)

"My education at IWP gave me the background in international affairs and its history I needed to determine if articles submitted to World Politics Review make sense, have good arguments, have an interesting perspective on an issue, and are intelligently written."-Hampton Stephens, Class of 2007Hampton currently is Editor-in-Chief of World Politics Review, an outlet for serious, thoughtful news and opinion pieces on foreign policy and international affairs. Hampton founded WPR in July 2006, while he was still at IWP.{read more}

Did you know?

"After I entered the intelligence community and completed advanced counterintelligence training, a seasoned instructor confided in me that I was distinguished as the most knowledgeable student of counterintelligence principles and history whom he had ever encountered in his multi-decade career as an instructor.

"My knowledge of all the instruments of statecraft has given me a distinct advantage over my colleagues in the intelligence community, as well as those in other agencies and departments with whom I work regularly - of whom many are competent in the technicalities of their work but possess only a tenuous understanding of the possibilities, limitations, and history of their respective functions. Consequently, my career and country are both benefitting."

The Research and Writing Seminar for Statecraft and National Security is intended to introduce students to the art of research and writing. Its objective is to familiarize students with information: its acquisition, analysis, and communication.

Principal Professor

Marek Jan Chodakiewicz

"The Institute's superb curriculum and fine faculty, with excellent backgrounds in both government and the academic world, create a well-integrated program that produces professionals well-grounded in the real world of security and foreign affairs, and in the underlying history, principles, and ethical issues of statecraft."